[Germancub]

Hey everybody,
 
Just picked these up a few days ago and wanted to write down my impressions for you guys.
 
First off, the build quality is quite solid given the price point although they won't be mistaken for something expensive anytime soon. I find the fit pretty comfortable, the clamping force is very light even for larger heads and the earpads are decently soft. Aesthetics wise, they're much less embarrassing to wear than the SRH840s in public and actually look nice providing you don't have a cranium the size of a Q-Tip. 
 
The most important part, the sound... I listened to these straight from my iPod as I'm sure that was the intended purpose of them. At only 38 ohms, I didn't notice any difference amping them at all.
 
The treble is rolled off but not muffled in any way to me with a midrange that's actually extremely forward. I am personally really enjoying the forward, very dry midrange that these have, especially for vocals (and movie dialogue). The soundstage is nothing to write home about but it's definitely not as bad as you'd think for closed headphones in this price range. Instrument separation is pretty nice and nothing in the spectrum was presented as one big blob as seems to be the case with so many budget headphones.
 
The bass has been criticized by many reviewers and while I do agree that it's somewhat on the lighter side, I wouldn't say it's deficient. It seems that, on these more than any other headphones I've heard recently, it heavily depended on the song. For example, on certain tracks I found myself wanting more bass, on others, it seemed to be quite accurate, fun and head-bang worthy. The entire lower part of the spectrum seems very controlled with good decay and without any of that annoying "closed headphone resonance" the mid-bass tends to suffer from.
 
Overall, I think I found my new favorite budget portable headphones. For $60 you can't ask for much more, they're comfortable, well built, have a forward, fun presentation and are very easy to drive. Once again, Shure hasn't disappointed me. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Germancub]

UPDATE: The more I listen to these, the more I'm falling in love with them. They're really opening up and the bottom end is not only tightening up but becoming more dominant. Break in is definitely helping solve any shortcomings they originally had.

 

[tdockweiler]

Thanks for the review. I agree that they are very good for the money. I remember seeing them in Best Buy once a year ago for $30. My first thought was, how could such a large headphone be THAT cheap?
 
Turns out that when I took them home I loved them. I've of course moved on to other headphones. I still have them but don't listen to them. My mother used them for 6 months and she also liked them.
 
They have some good mids, but are fairly bass light compared to the 840, but it's not a big deal for me.
 
I should check into them. I'm also a huge fan of the Beyer Dynamic DT-235 which I modded with the DHP-II pads and some blu-tack. Best $50 headphone ever!
Ohh and there's a way to squeeze more mids out of them by covering two of the holes on the back of the driver.
 
Hmm, I wonder if I could mod the SRH-240? It'd be interesting.
 
 

 

[bcasey25raptor]

you have both the shure srh 840 and the shure srh240 right. how do they compare. not in terms of details but in terms of harshness and clarity. are they forgiving of badly recorded songs. that is my biggest complaint about the shure srh840 is the honest aproach to your music.

 

[Germancub]

Quote:

you have both the shure srh 840 and the shure srh240 right. how do they compare. not in terms of details but in terms of harshness and clarity. are they forgiving of badly recorded songs. that is my biggest complaint about the shure srh840 is the honest aproach to your music.

Hmmm the 240's are markedly "grainier" and seem to be even more sensitive to recordings than the smooth SRH840's. I actually just found a crazy price on SRH440's and will be returning the 240's tomorrow and paying the $20 extra bucks for the 440's. But I still do stand by the 240's and how great they sound for how little they cost. But, if you can afford it... the 440's are better. Stay tuned for an SRH440 vs. SRH840 review after I burn them in.

 

[Shotor102]

Hi guys,
I have just returned my Sony MDR-XB500's in favor of the Shure SRH240M+, yes M+ version.
They have the same exact specs, and are exactly the same headphones, but with the difference of slight wiring/cable modifications for a built in mic and audio controls ('made for ipod' logos). They do sound good. Very bright, great mid-range and vocals, and even somewhat sibilant.  You can definitely hear any defects or course quality on lower bit rate tracks. Of course, this is a plus and a minus.. But I think they are designed to reproduce the sound as it was intended to be heard. But unlike the flat response that Sennheiser pride themselves with, the shure actually provide character to the music.  I haven't even burnt them in properly yet and I like the sound.
People did complain about the bass, and I guess I can somewhat see why. It's not that it's not there, because it is there, and you can tell and distinguish between different basslines in different tracks, it's just not this thunderclap bass one would get from something like the Beats Pro or Sony MDRXB700 series.  Then again, unless you're a bass-head, this really shouldn't matter.  And I can tell you this as a Bass Lover, as I listen mainly to Electronic music, prominently Full-On Psytrance, Trance and Dance. And trust me, those cans deliver the sound very well.  In fact, they isolate outside noise very well too, so you do get a fuller sound spectrum without blasting them and cranking the ipod/mp3 player. I found that at 65% - 75% volume is sufficient for a daily commute (like bus rides and subways.) They're not active noise cancelling like Bose or Dr Dre's, but personally am not a fan of those, as you need batteries just to power the headphones and to get sound.  And don't even get me started on SkullCandy.
 
The only gripes I found is that the wiring is very thin. in the M+ version it's even thinner than the regular 240 version. It's almost at the thin level of generic ipod ear buds (yes, those white things.)  Which is a bit of a let down since you constantly have to be worried and weary of the wire snagging on something and then rendering the headphones useless. It's also not one sided, which is a surprises since there are $20 - $30 headphones that come with a single sided cord as a standard.  I'm almost thinking of either devising or buying some kind of a wire protector to prevent damage by snagging..  Also, the M+ version cable is much shorter, it's actually maybe 4 feet long with a 45 degree angled jack that is not threaded like the 240 version..
 
But all in all, good headphones none the less. 
Now, all I need to do is burn them in properly with some white noise..
 
I hope they don't break... Well at least Shure provides a 2 warranty on them... so...